International News
Air Canada Flight Attendants Vow To Continue Strike, Hold Talks
Striking Air Canada flight attendants vowed Monday to defy another back-to-work order from the country’s labour tribunal, but resumed talks seeking to end a walkout that has cancelled travel for half a million people worldwide.
Roughly 10,000 flight attendants walked off the job after midnight Saturday, insisting the airline had failed to address their demands for higher wages and compensation for unpaid ground work, including during boarding.
Canada’s national carrier, which flies directly to 180 cities domestically and abroad, said the strike had forced cancellations impacting 500,000 people.
Over the weekend, Federal Labour Minister Patty Hajdu invoked a legal provision to halt the strike and force both sides into binding arbitration.
Following Hajdu’s intervention, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), a regulatory tribunal, ordered the flight attendants back to work Sunday.
The flight attendants’ union said it would defy the order, forcing Air Canada to walk back plans to partially restore service.
CIRB regulators upped the pressure Monday.
It ordered the union “to resume the performance of their duties immediately and to refrain from engaging in unlawful strike activities,” Air Canada said in a statement.
The tribunal gave the Canadian Union of Public Employees until 12:00 pm (1600 GMT) to communicate to members that they “are required to resume the performance of their duties,” the carrier added.
Speaking after that deadline, CUPE president Mark Hancock told reporters the solution “has to be found at a bargaining table,” and that the union will not respect the tribunal’s ruling.
“None of us want to be in defiance of the law,” he said, but stressed the union would not waver in advocating for people asked to work hours on the ground during flight delays without “getting paid a dime.”
If Air Canada “thinks that planes will be flying this afternoon, they’re sorely mistaken,” Hancock said.
The union said later Monday that it had resumed talks with the airline as part of “continued attempts to reach a fair deal.”
The evening meetings were taking place in Toronto with the assistance of a mediator, William Kaplan, CUPE’s Air Canada component said in a statement on Facebook.
But it added that “at this time, the strike is still on, and the talks have just commenced.”
– Carney ‘disappointed’ –
Rafael Gomez, an industrial relations expert at the University of Toronto, told AFP the union may be on solid legal footing.
The provision “is written in such a way that it’s really for a situation where strikes have gone on a long time and there’s no way forward,” he said, suggesting that standard could not credibly apply to a strike that is just a few days old.
Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters Monday it was “disappointing” that eight months of negotiations between the carrier and union did not produce an agreement.
“We recognise very much the critical role that flight attendants play in keeping Canadians and their families safe as they travel,” he said.
“It is important that they’re compensated equitably.”
But, he added, Canada faced a situation where hundreds of thousands of citizens and visitors were facing travel uncertainty.
On Thursday, Air Canada detailed the terms offered to cabin crew, indicating a senior flight attendant would, on average, make CAN$87,000 ($65,000) by 2027.
CUPE has described Air Canada’s offers as “below inflation (and) below market value.”
In a statement issued before the strike began, the Business Council of Canada warned an Air Canada work stoppage would exacerbate the economic pinch already being felt from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
AFP
German authorities deported at least 137 Nigerian citizens across five chartered flights between February and June 2026, according to migration monitoring reports.
Data from the DERS Team and Refugees4refugees.org shows the deportations occurred in phases, with 27 Nigerians returned in February, 37 in March through a joint European Union operation, 24 in April, 23 in May, and 26 in June.
The February operation departed from Stuttgart and landed at Lagos Cargo Airport, with Baden-Württemberg listed as a primary participant. The March operation represented the largest single return of Nigerians recorded over three years and was executed in collaboration with Spain, Austria, and Belgium.
The reports indicate a growing reliance on multi-national chartered flights by European states to repatriate undocumented or non-resident individuals to Nigeria.
The United States has condemned the killing of members of the family of Plateau-based cleric, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, describing the attack as horrific and urging Nigerian authorities to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
In a statement shared on X on Thursday, the US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs expressed condolences to the victims’ families and called for stronger measures to prevent further attacks on vulnerable communities across Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
“The United States strongly condemns the horrific killing of members of Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo’s family in Plateau State, Nigeria. The continued violence targeting Christian communities and other vulnerable populations in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is deeply alarming,” the bureau said
The US said it had already engaged Nigerian officials on the worsening security situation, stressing that urgent action was needed to curb recurring attacks and hold perpetrators accountable.
“As I discussed last week with Nigerian officials, we must do more to prevent violent acts. The perpetrators must be held accountable, and urgent action is needed to strengthen security and protect Christians and other vulnerable communities,” the statement added.
The bureau reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to working with the Nigerian government to combat terrorism and violent extremism, stressing that Christians and other Nigerians should be able to practise their faith without fear of violence.
The statement followed the July 12 attack on Kum community in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, where nine members of Rev. Dachomo’s extended family, including a two-month-old baby, were killed.
According to the cleric, the attackers, believed to be armed Fulani militias, asked for him by name before opening fire on his relatives.
Dachomo, who serves as Regional Chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, said his family had repeatedly been targeted because of his outspoken criticism of the violence in Plateau State.
He recalled that his grandmother and an uncle were also killed in previous attacks, adding that days after burying his relatives, he received a written death threat from the same group, warning that he would be their next target.
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
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